Crazy Seduction(erotica)

“You are. You’ve moved yourself into a state where you perceive this one moment in time. Changing the state of an object or a person is not possible without involving time. Truthfully, you can’t stop time as that’s impossible too.”

“So, if I unfreeze my perception of time, she completes her action, and I die. Stanley Garin will flash into and out of being,” he said softly.

“Yes, along with Humankind,” she concluded.

“I’m doing my best to keep from asking the question you won’t answer,” Henry said with a frown and sighed. “What do you have against Humans?”

Baba held his eyes. “Nothing at all. I used to be one long ago. Now, they’re just part of a bargain I need to be free from,” she said wearily.

At Henry’s exasperated look, she sighed. “Henry, how old do you think I am?”

He frowned. “You know I can’t accurately guess stuff like that.”

She nodded with the smallest smile. “Let’s just say I’m one of the originals.” She looked to Henry to see if he would protest the vague answer, but he just watched her.

“I once had a son. He got sick. He was dying. I… made an arrangement. He would survive, and I would live and remember. I watched him grow up, get old, and die. I was cast out when I outlived so many. I learned many things and grew in power. Gaining so many years means losing much as well. Important things, so I made a plan.” She nodded in satisfaction.

Henry watched her carefully and saw the weariness in her eyes. This was the most open she’d ever been with him, ever. He suspected this was only because she saw her release from her unnaturally extended life once he released his hold on the moment.

As if reading his mind, she frowned at him. “Your moment is almost up. Time is moving forward regardless of your wishes,” Baba scolded him gently.

He watched her. “Thank you, Baba.”

She looked at him in surprise.

“Thank you for taking care of me, to the best of your abilities,” he said gently.

She snorted softly as she gave him a troubled look.

“No, I understand now I was just a part of your exit strategy… but my life had more good moments than bad, and ultimately, I found love. That’s a treasure for me,” he explained.

Baba stared at him, and her lip twitched. She nodded, and that looked like a twitch as well. “You’re too soft-hearted. That’s why you refused to willingly spin the ring when you were given the opportunity to end this.”

He smiled at her. “Perhaps, but I stand by that decision. There are too many beautiful and loving people in the world. People who would do anything to protect their loved ones. That’s the most profound demonstration of love.”

Baba’s tick was back. “I said I wouldn’t interfere…”

He felt it. The moment passed, and the ring’s turning sequence was complete. Henry released his hold on his perception of time, and as his observation of it slowed to real-time, he felt the beginnings of the dragon bone glamor activating. Reality twisted, but this time he felt himself tearing apart. He’d never felt this kind of pain before during a transition. He was being peeled apart! He felt a thinning of his being, a hollowing out of his core, and a sensation much like being dragged across a cheese grater.

The torture wasn’t just physical. He wasn’t ready to go. Images of Sandy, Tish, and Dayshia flashed through his mind, and he wanted to hold them once more. Camila, Sigrid, Marisa appeared in his last thoughts. Roy, his surrogate dad. Meixiu, Mahati, and Siobhan. His child with Tish who would never meet her father as he’d missed out on his own.

It wasn’t fair.

A shock shot from his scalp to his toes, leaving him lightheaded.

Time froze once more, but this time he saw it was Baba doing it, pulling him into the bubble of her moment.

She was also streaming energy into him, and his head began to feel like a balloon being overfilled until there was a flash, a pop, and he was back. Implanted images flickered past the back of his eyes quicker than he could comprehend them, but they seemed intensely important. His muscles twitched like they were reacting to the images.

Then everything went still.Copyright by Nôv/elDrama.Org.

Henry was facing Mab but behind her, in the shadows, stood Baba.

Standing next to her was someone he never expected to see again.

Stanley.

A shock went through Henry’s body as he locked eyes with his former self. Their minds instantly linked, and they realized what Baba had done. Henry had no memories before returning from Ireland, and Stanley had no memories of what happened after. Stanley was completely Human, while Henry was one hundred percent Satyr. She’d split them so Henry could live on.

Henry knew they had less than a moment, so he plunged his mind into Stanley’s memories, imprinting a copy in his mind, as he shared everything he was in return.

Stanley suddenly pushed him from his mind as he smiled weakly. “Goodbye-”

He was gone.

Henry looked to Baba and saw her old eyes closing with a look of absolute peace, something he’d never seen in them before.

Then she was gone too.

The frozen moment ended, and reality slammed into Henry, making him stumble.

Mab’s smile was ripped away as she looked at Henry with incredulous outrage. “No… NO! You were supposed to disappear! All of Humanity was supposed to DIE!”

Reeling from the sensation of losing a significant and important part of himself, Henry struggled to focus on Mab. She was glaring at her finger as she spun the ring again and again. Except, it no longer functioned, the curse had been triggered, and there was no provision for his existence afterward.

Henry rocked with the horror of what that meant.

Humanity was gone?

-=-

Gunnery Sergeant Chris Endale stood on the small section of intact flooring, watching the confusing shit happening on the floor a level above and ahead of them. His mind wasn’t tracking what was happening at all. This was impossible shit. People couldn’t just appear and disappear in shadows. People couldn’t grow from baby to adult in seconds, either. It was making his skin crawl.

The freak who pushed him into the other world was crying over the dead body of a child and lowered it through the floor. His nerves frayed from witnessing yet another impossible act. He grit his teeth in a feral snarl.

The hot redhead woman on the upper level was saying some nonsense about saying goodbye to humanity as she did something with her hands.

Dulane was standing between Endale and Yablonski, behind the three women, so when the only fully human member of their group vanished, only the two silver men witnessed his empty uniform fall quietly to the floor. They stared, stunned by the finality and cruelty of this impossible act, and it was just too much for Chris.

He lifted his eyes to look into the shocked and enraged expression of the other Silver Soldier. They shared a look, and Endale made hand gestures indicating the outer walls. Yablonski nodded stiffly, and they prepared their attack.

-=-

Henry caught sight of a silver streak running along the wall’s intact remains behind Mab. It leapt across a gap to land on the floor close to her. It was the marine, and he was in a rage. He surged forward, and for the briefest second, Mab faded slightly as she spun with the dagger. The marine was grabbing at her as he raced by, but his hands passed through her instead. Her blade slashed through the man’s wide neck. He stumbled wildly, and his momentum carried him into the path of a second Silver Soldier rushing around from the other side. They collided, and both went out the window at speed.

Henry looked to where they must have come from and saw a third Silver Soldier turning to kneel before an empty army uniform. The image etched indelibly in his mind as proof the curse had worked.

His eyes went to Lorelei, who was watching him with a wide-eyed, terrified expression. Then he saw the old Fae who was on her hands and knees mumbling and watching Mab with murder in her eyes. Her hands were glowing slightly.

Henry knew he wasn’t done. Mab planned to kill everyone. He had to stop that.

He moved toward her, and Mab pointed the dagger at him. His eyes focused on the weapon that drank his daughter’s life. He surged forward.

Mab tried to run forward too but realized her feet were stuck to the floor. She flashed a glance at the Investigator who was using the last of her strength and magic to cast a binding spell. She’d deal with the traitor later.

She focused back on Henry, who was almost in range, yet made no effort to protect himself. Stupid and sloppy! He wasn’t a fighter. Once he was too close to avoid it, she thrust the deadly blade at his heart.

Its edge never touched his skin. Henry opened a small tear directly before the point of Mab’s blade and her hand followed the cursed weapon as it plunged into molten rock. He immediately released the tear, severing the hand from her now burning wrist.

She screamed until his big hands grabbed her shoulders once more in a bruising grip. Her eyes flew wide as he yanked her forward to ram his forehead against hers, with all his strength this time.

Old bone shattered under the intense impact and Mab’s body stiffened then went completely lax as he threw her to the floor at his hooves. Curling his lip in disgust, he stepped back before he dropped her body into another lava flow on Eden. He strained to hold the rift open long enough to watch the molten rock consume her corpse in the roaring flames.

Once the tear snapped closed, the building shifted again, the last of the magic that kept it together quickly draining away without Mab to maintain it. Henry flung out a hand to open a tear next to Lorelei and the soldier, red grasses showing below. The soldier had the presence of mind to tackle the tall brunette as she leapt through the tear before the floor collapsed, taking the dying Fae Investigator down into the darkness.