One Thousand Wishes One Thousand Stars Read online

  The Complex

  One Thousand Wishes,

  One Thousand Stars

  By Katherine Rhodes

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  One Thousand Wishes, One Thousand Wishes

  All rights reserved.

  Copyright 2017 © Katherine Rhodes

  Cover: ShoutLine Designs

  Formatting: Down Write Nuts

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher

  Contents

  Philautia

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Agape

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Pragma

  Chapter Five

  Kenos

  Chapter Six

  Eros

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Ludus

  About Katherine Rhodes

  Philautia

  AN ANGEL FELL.

  P'iliktus was there.

  His heart shattered when I walked away from the safe haven of his arms into the arms of another, a Human. A Human I had known for just six months. And he managed to do what P'iliktus couldn’t do in three centuries years.

  Catch an angel.

  Catch me.

  Chapter One

  I WIPED THE SLOP FROM THE COUNTER, and gave the rude troll a nasty look.

  Literal slop. Trolls were disgusting and I wished with all my might John would ban them.

  He wouldn't, because it was bad for business. John was excellent at making sure his bar was calm and welcoming, even without his vampiric influence. The dude was a sea of calm.

  Which was why I had so much trouble believing Marindor about him ripping heads off to save their mate, Aura. Still, I guessed even the calmest person could go off the deep end when love was involved.

  On top of all that, there was a great helping of irony in the djinn making a wish. While I did have to be careful, I was also lucky that John allowed me to use my powers as I wished. I'd heard stories over the years of those with unkind Lampmasters who kept their djinn imprisoned.

  I was fortunate. John held my lamp. He was more a friend than a master.

  Of course, if he had listened to me in the first place, we wouldn't have been sent to this godforsaken Complex.

  He disagreed, of course. He was also in the throes of newly mated bliss, so fuck his opinion.

  The troll dropped more of his slop on the bar top I had just wiped. I growled at him, and realized--it was a her. Christ, trolls came in ugly and uglier.

  Damn. I had to stop doing that. I didn't want to judge these fellow Metas, but it was hard when they were dropping their drool on my workspace.

  Maybe instead of wishing them away, I could work on another wish. I stared at the bar, and stirred up some powers from deep inside. I swiped my hand over the surface the female troll and her two friends kept drooling on. “Resist and clean.” I murmured the words, and the stupid sparkle of blue flashed over the area.

  Why did my damn magic have to sparkle?

  The female grabbed my wrist. “The hell are you doing, shorty? I thought this was a no magic bar.”

  “I apologize, ma’am, but I was just trying to keep the area clean for you and your friends. It seems I was having difficulty doing that and I didn't want you to be disappointed by our lack of attention.” That was suitably ass-kissy.

  “You a genie?”

  “Djinn, yes.”

  “Watch yourself, or I'll beat my three wishes out of your hide.”

  I nodded and walked away. That was not at all how it worked, but I had to get away from her before I said something I would regret, and things escalated.

  Apparently, never piss off a djinn wasn't something the trolls passed among themselves. We were small in stature, but big on power and attitude. I just didn't want to get John in trouble.

  I passed the office to grab another bottle of the drink the trolls loved so much, and I heard sex noises from the behind the door of the store room.

  Shoving the door open, I caught John mid-fuck with his adorable little succubus mate, Aura. “You have a private office, vampire! Good shit, can you keep the coitus contained?!”

  Aura looked chastised, and John just grinned. “I told you to make sure you were stocked.”

  I walked by them, John still stroking himself in and out of Aura’s lovely body. “I was until the trolls showed up. You've got no shame.”

  “No, but I was kind of betting on the door working.”

  “Just, clean up. Use the air purifier. Don't need the stock room smelling like sex.” I closed the door behind myself.

  Shit, the way John, Marin and Aura went after each other was unbelievably hot. I took a second to make sure that my erection cooled off and walked back to the bar. I was totally jealous of the chemistry there.

  Placing the bottle on the shelf, I turned back to the bar to see if anyone else in the lunch crowd needed a drink or to put an order in to the kitchen.

  I froze.

  A little blond-hair girl bounced across the room, her bright blue eyes lit from within with an otherworldly light.

  I knew those eyes, that hair.

  I stood as though I were stone, peering around. Was her mother here?

  Oh, gods and demons, I didn't need her mother here.

  She bounced over to the table where a man helped her sit. I broke my frozen pose and turned--her father helped her up.

  Her father.

  My blood pounded through my veins, my heart slammed in my chest. That bastard was here. Here, in the complex, with Brami. Where was her mother? I want to know and not know at the same time. I did not trust Trilland, not even with his own daughter.

  Brami looked just fine. A happy five year old trotting out to lunch with her father. Trilland looked as handsome as ever, and that light of lies still shone in his face. I could never figure out what he was up to, or what exactly he was doing that was evil--but it was there.

  Marin leaned into my field of view. “Hello? Hi?”

  I jerked and snapped my attention to him. “Oh, damn. You too?”

  “Me too, what?”

  “They're in the storeroom.”

  Marin laughed. “Figures. I was going to ask if John had a minute to help me, but if he's dick-deep in Aura… What are you staring at over there, anyway? They are going to want service soon.”

  “Shit.”

  Shedding the coat that had his rank and name on it, he grabbed an apron. “I got this. You can explain later.”

  “Thank you.” There was no way I could talk calmly to Trilland. Not in a hundred years. By which time he would be dead and my Min would be alone and dying.

  Not my Min. His Min. His angel.

  I wanted to choke the fucker out.

  I walked back to the hall behind the bar and tried to take a deep calming breath. I groaned; all I could smell was the sex down the hall. Marin would probably join them in a few.

  Newly mated. Blech.

  Djinn, do you want me to ask this guy anything?

  Quietly impressed by Marin’s growing abilities, I answered, Aside from his lunch order?

  Screw off. But there was no malice in his tone.

  Nothing. Just make sure the little girl is well cared for and happy.

  It was the least I could do for Min.

  “Hey. barkeep!” It was the troll woman. “Can we get a refill here? This is my last lunch as an unmated woman!”

  The two with her cheered and guffawed. I thumped my head back. I was going to have a drunk bachelorette troll at my bar during lunch. Which also meant that at some point her drunk future mate was going to roll in with his crew and drag her off to the ceremony.

  Trolls were also loud.

  Didn't need this Friday to be like this. At all. I slogged back to the counter and refilled the drinks. I was going to have to go into the storeroom and replace the good trogog drink with the cheap one. They were probably going to stiff me on the bill. I knew the troll with the...bride, and she'd cheated me once or twice. Not the whole bill. Yet.

  Marin walked back from the table with the order and stared at me. I ignored him for a moment while I slid the order to the back to start cooking, but he kept staring.

  “What?”

  “Angel.” It was all he said.

  “What?”

  “The little girl. She's half angel. Nephilium.”

  “Braminasandara Oe. It's his daughter.”

  Marin’s mouth made a little ‘O,’ clearly understanding everything I had not verbalized in that answer. “Never would have pegged you for someone who likes wings.”

  “It's not about the wings.” I glanced over at the two at the table. “I wish that child had been mine.”

  “Djinn making wishes?”

  I stared at him. “Fucking human language. Makes me sound like an ass.”

  “You don't need the humans for
that.” Marin winked.

  I shook my head and made a rude gesture. “Meanwhile, can you do me a favor?”

  “After that hand jive you just gave me?”

  “I've got more.”

  The psychic laughed at me. “Fine. What?”

  “Check the passenger manifests for me. See if that jack-off brought his wife with him. I didn't think she was coming here, but I can't imagine her leaving her daughter.”

  “Name?”

  “Arahambramina Oe.”

  “Yeah...I'm gonna need you to write that down.”

  * * *

  I walked through the lighted streets to my favorite club. The music could be heard well down the street--and if nothing else, I had to give the designers props for keeping the commerce and commercial areas of the Complex away from the dorms and apartments.

  UniAqua was thrumming with the Friday night crowd. This was one of the coolest clubs in the Complex. I’d found it my second week there, and after trying one or two others, decided this was going to be my go to.

  The center of the club was a huge water tank with a glass floor. The water underneath could be accessed by four sets of stairs on the outside walls of the club, and there were four dive points. The water-bound and water-dependent Metas of the Complex could come and go as they please through an exit below or they could join the dancers above.

  Paying the entrance fee and walking to the bar, I set myself up for the evening near the end of the bar. Glancing around the room slowly, I sized up all the women, and a few of the men, who might garner some of my attention.

  They all fell short.

  After being reminded of how ethereal Min was, all of the beautiful people and bodies in the room seemed…flat. Disinteresting.

  Looked like it was a night of drinking and trying to drown my sorrows in alcohol and maybe a little literal water. Swimming, for some reason, always soothed me. My mother had sworn she was nothing but psychic. The draw of the water was sometimes too great for me to believe that.

  Months before I had made friends with the bartender at the club. He could come and visit me at my bar, and I would visit him here. We usually traded drinks. Tonight I just sat, nursing a local brew. Local brew. Like there was any other kind in a closed dome system.

  I felt a little discord floating through the air, and my attention drifted over to a group of Humans on the Aquarium. They were dancing and having a good time and bothering no one. Just annoying people with their bad dancing. Watching them, however, was a group of ayakashi, in many different forms. They were clearly angry that the Humans were dancing over a body of water they considered theirs. Except it wasn’t theirs and there was plenty of room for them on the dance floor.

  “You see that?” the bartender asked, tossing a chin at the ayakashi.

  “Hard to miss. They’re like strobes in deep space.”

  “Can you handle it if they get too aggressive?”

  Raising an eyebrow at Hin, I shook my head. “Isn’t that why you have security?”

  “I’m not talking about the ayakashi. I’m talking about protecting the Humans. They’re nice people and they just want to dance. The floor doesn’t belong to the ayakashi.”

  I sighed. “You’re just lucky my Lampmaster doesn’t hold my power back.”

  He grinned. “Hey, I didn’t want these wars either and I want this place to work. To do that we have to let the Humans know that we mean no harm, and are in fact handy to have around.”

  “Ugh.”

  “Plus, your magic is cool looking.”

  “It fucking sparkles, Hin. Sparkles. Like I’m some kind of damn glitter bomb.”

  “Exactly. And it sparkles blue.” He motioned the walls around us: all blue and white and glittery.

  Just great. He liked the sparkles because I matched his decor. Lame. So lame.

  I had to remind myself that I was a very lucky djinn with a Lampmaster who was more a friend than master, and that’s what allowed me to be here, and help the Humans if they needed it.

  A moment later, they needed it.

  It only took the ayakashi a moment to swarm them. And there were more than just the ones on the side of the Aquarium. Several ran from the bar, a few dropped from the second floor balcony, and there were a handful that rose up through the dive points in the floor, from the water.

  “Leave!” one of the ayakashi yelled.

  I hopped off the barstool and headed over to toward the group. I didn’t rush. I wanted to see what they were going to do. The Humans huddled close to one another, and stared at the frightening green Metas that surrounded them.

  “Leave!” commanded an ayakashi, dripping from the pool.

  “Leave!” Five or six of them this time.

  The glass under the Humans shook with the pounding fists of another half dozen of the ayakashi hiding in the water directly beneath them. The Humans looked terrified of the noise, the magic, and the anger that filled the atmosphere.

  Shouldering through the ayakashi, I stood in front of the frightened patron. I gestured for them to follow me. “Come on. You’ll be better off over here.”

  The ayakashi next to me turned and opened it’s great gaping maw, speckled with teeth. It hiss-spat at me, and tried to scare me.

  One thing about djinn: it wasn’t easy to spot us. Ever. We were always short, usually with plain features and looked like any human in Seldova. Unremarkable. Until we unleashed our powers, which were nearly limitless. There wasn’t much we couldn’t do if our masters asked it. I had known one who was slave to an unkind Lampmaster who had made him implode a star. Truthfully, after most young djinn played with their power, they were bored with it and rarely employed it, and I wasn’t an exception to that.

  Except when an ayakashi tried threaten me with their bad teeth and rank breath. Then, the lamp got left behind and I retaliated.

  Summoning up the magic, I snapped his jaw shut and locked it closed. With a sweep of my hand, he went flying back and stuck to the railing of the balcony in a shocking explosion of the wretched blue glitter that went with the power.

  Two more ayakashi charged at me, but instead of waiting for all these idiots to charge me one at a time, I shoved them all to their knees, and then down onto their faces, prone on the top of the Aquarium.

  Just below my feet, I saw the glimmer of a pale green specter sliding through the water toward the six ayakashi that were banging on the top of the Aquarium. I didn’t have to worry about those particular idiots.

  Ellestra was in charge in the water.

  I motioned the Humans toward me again. “Come on. It’ll be safer if you have an area on the balcony to yourselves. They won’t hurt you now. And they won’t be welcome back here.”

  A petite woman took my hand and stepped out of the circle of prone bodies, pushed forward by her date for the evening. I walked a few more of the Humans out and motioned to the balcony stairs.

  “What are you?” the petite woman asked.

  “I’m a genie and I’m granting your wish for a nice night out with your friends.”

  The bouncers finally showed up with several Climintra guards, and they pushed their way through the staring crowds. I wasn’t letting the ayakashi up until the Humans were on the balcony.

  Just as I was releasing them, six of their friend who had been under the floor were ejected out of the water through the dive points, up into the air, and landed on their now-standing friends. They soaked everyone in a five-foot radius. Which, conveniently, was mostly just the other ayakashi.

  “What the hell is going on here?”

  Te’krick’it, the manager, was standing with his webby hands on his hips just off to the side. A vodnik, the man could assume a mostly human shape, though he couldn’t quite get rid of his amphibian nature, as seen by the webbed fingers and pale green skin. He lived in the Aqua dome and needed the water environment. He was also a little bit on the shifty side, but not enough to make him a criminal. At least, not outright.

  The Climintra were hauling the ayakashi to their feet, and were completely unimpressed by their show of dominance. Instead, the lieutenant motioned for his men to haul the unruly Metas out the front door of the club.

  “Te’krick’it Boblbefen, do you wish to press charges against these Metas?”

  “No, I don’t even know what’s going--”